Jun. 2, 2008 – Affinity banquet honors industry leaders, vehicles

Leaders from across the powersports industry came together at the Newport Beach Marriott in California, May 7, for the 2008 Affinity Media Group Awards of Excellence Dinner.
The 12th annual event, sponsored by GE Money, recognized not only Powersports Business’ executive of the year and industry leaders, but also best vehicle awards in the motorcycle, ATV, snowmobile, PWC and sport-quad categories.
A new element added this year was the event was broadcast live over the Internet, viewable by visiting www.powersportsbusiness.com or one of its consumer sister sites. The broadcast also featured live blogging by Affinity Media editors during the event.
“I’m not sure if it was because we were doing a live video feed of the event, or because of the tight competition for our various machines of the year, but the attendance at this year’s awards was the best in several years,” said Dick Hendricks, executive vice president of powersports media for Affinity Powersports Media. “It really was a who’s who of the powersports industry in attendance, and there was a lot of anticipation because being named machine of the year carries a lot of marketing clout for the winners.”
Eric Bondy, president/CEO of KYMCO USA, was in attendance to accept Powersports Business’ 2008 Executive of the Year honor, given in recognition of his role in KYMCO’s role as a leading new-entry OEM, committing itself to building brand recognition and infrastructure in an already crowded U.S. market.
“Although I am the recipient of this award, it really belongs to everyone at KYMCO who works so hard on a daily basis to ensure this company’s success,” Bondy said. “It’s such a great honor to receive this award, and it’s a night I’ll remember forever.”
Bob Miller, president of national distributor Helmet House, was on-hand to accept his award as one of Powersports Business’ four 2008 Industry Leaders. Other winners this year included Jon-Erik Burleson of KTM North America, Mark Blackwell of Victory and Dan Patterson of Lehman Trikes.
For the vehicle portion of the awards ceremony, the Kawasaki Concours 14 was honored as motorcycle of the year; the Polaris Sportsman 800 Touring was named ATV of the year; Can Am’s DS 450 was named Sport ATV of the year; and the Yamaha FX Cruiser SHO was named PWC of the year.
To view a replay of the awards banquet broadcast, visit www.powersportsbusiness.com and click on the Affinity Media Awards Banquet link. psb